Bob Shaw
|
|
Bob Shaw (December 31, 1931 - February 12, 1996) was a British science fiction author and fan. His works include "Light of Other Days" (incorporated into Other Days, Other Eyes) and Orbitsville.
He was born and raised in Belfast. He and his wife and children left Northern Ireland for England in the 1970s, because they were worried about the political situation. Shaw was trained as a structural engineer, but also worked as a journalist and aircraft designer before turning to fiction writing.
He is perhaps best known for "Light of Other Days", the story that introduced the concept of slow glass, through which the past can be seen. (It was later incorporated into the fix-up Other Days, Other Eyes) His work ranged from essentially mimetic stories with fantastic elements far in the background (Ground Zero Man) to van Vogtian extravaganzas (The Palace of Eternity). Later in his career he began writing trilogies: The Land trilogy (The Ragged Astronauts, The Wooden Spaceships, and The Fugitive Worlds) was set on a world with no metals. (Because the inhabitants had no way of knowing what they lacked and thus could not discuss it, Shaw asked his publishers to mention the lack of metals on the cover.)
Most of Shaw's novels are serious, but he was known in the fan community for his wit. Every year at the British science fiction convention Eastercon, he would deliver a humorous speech. These were eventually collected in A Load of Old Bosh (1995).
Bibliography
- Night Walk (1967)
- The Two-Timers (1968)
- The Palace Of Eternity (1969)
- The Shadow Of Heaven (1969)
- One Million Tomorrows (1971)
- Other Days, Other Eyes (1972) - collection
- Tomorrow Lies In Ambush (1973) - collection
- Orbitsville (1975)
- A Wreath of Stars (1976)
- Cosmic Kaleidoscope (London: Gollancz 1976) - collection
- Ground Zero Man/The Peace Machine (1976/1985)
- Cosmic Kaleidoscope (NY: Doubleday 1977 ) - collection
- Medusa's Children (1977)
- Who Goes Here? (1977)
- Ship Of Strangers (1978)
- Vertigo/Terminal Velocity (1978/1991)
- Dagger of the Mind (1979)
- The Ceres Solution (1981)
- A Better Mantrap (1982)- collection
- Orbitsville Departure (1983)
- Fire Pattern (1984)
- Between Two Worlds (1986) - collection
- The Ragged Astronauts (1986)
- Who Goes Here? (1988) - collection
- The Wooden Spaceships (1988)
- The Fugitive Worlds (1989)
- Killer Planet (1989)
- Dark Night In Toyland (1989) - collection
- Orbitsville Judgement (1990)
Nonfiction
- The Best of the Bushel (1979)
- The Eastercon Speeches (1979)
- How to Write Science Fiction (1993)
- A Load of Old BoSh (1995) (includes The Eastercon Speeches)
External links
- Ansible obituary (http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/SF-Archives/Ansible/a104.html)
- Complete text of Light of Other Days (http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/shaw/shaw1.html)nl:Bob Shaw